I was told that there weren’t many onsens or sentos in Okinawa.
They weren’t wrong.
I was also told that 1650 yen is too much to spend on a bath.
So very wrong.
(That’s me at my most elegant.)
Quite simply, the onsen at Hotel Orion Motobu Resort and Spa is one tasty way to watch a sunset. Dare I say it, this was one of my top 20 sunsets. The onsen itself, bearing the name Jurassic Onsen Churaumi no Yu (due to the depth of the water and its proximity to the Aquarium), is quite small- 2 baths, a sauna and a mizuburo. It appealed to the minimalism in me, especially given that I had the whole place to myself for at least 1 hour. I must have done at least 4 sweats here, during which time I think I recycled some old hatha yoga breathing exercises. Why the f not.
Also, I spent a while lying on that concrete to the right of the photo. That was the knees of the bees.
Let’s taste the justice:
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THE SCOREBOARD OF SENTO SUCCULENCE: |
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| Features: | 2 large baths (one of which was an ‘undercover rotenburo’. What this meant was basically that there as waist high window letting fresh air in), 90 degree sauna, and a mizuburo that was long enough for me to plank in. |
| Bath Heat/10 | 8 (38-40 degrees) But this is just right for an Okinawa summer. |
| Sauna heat/10 | 9 (two levels 90) |
| Spatial aesthetic/5 | 5 |
| Water quality/5 | 2 (salt) |
| Variety of bath types/10 | 5 |
| Quality of rotenburo /10 | 8. Tricky one: technically not a rotenburo, but that view…… and that fresh air…..I stood up at that window for some time. |
| Mizuburo/10 | 8 |
| Lighting /10 | 9 (the sauna was spot on, and most other lights were pretty low) |
| Cost to value /5 | 3. 1650 for hotel guests, about 2000 for non-guests. The fact that I don’t consider this expensive testifies to how bad I wanted a soak after a 30 hour week of weeding farmland |
| Accessibility /5 | 2. Yeah, it’s a touch of mission |
| Little extras /10 | 6.So the beach downstairs is open to the public. For onsen users there’s a 1500 yen one hour nomihodai. But I also think just chilling round the hotel would reveal all kinds of treats. |
| Overall feeling /10 | 9. |
| OVERALL PROXIMITY TO BOILING POINT/100 | 74 |
74 degrees… that’s alright for a 2 bath onsen.
To get there, basically get to the Aquaraium. It’s very close. The Yanbaru express bus goes there, but that’s not very often. I hitched.
Hotel Orion Motobu Resort & Spa
〒905‐0207 沖縄県国頭郡 本部町備瀬148-1
Phone:0980-51-7300
October 9, 2015
bastubennett
sweatshopping 